Stamford Finance Board delays final mill rate vote

STAMFORD -- The Board of Finance delayed its expected vote on the mill rate Tuesday, with one member questioning the city administration's proposed distribution of the tax burden.

Despite the delay, the board did review a proposed mill rate of 17.04 and set the city's contingency fund, setting aside no additional funding for the city library system.

Board Independent Kathleen Murphy said the tax increase appeared to unfairly affect districts A and B, which include the downtown and Shippan. She questioned the city's assessment of fire service costs in those areas and asked for more time to get answers to those and other questions, including how special tax arrangements for the Mill River and South End Harbor Point development will affect the tax rate.

"We're going to try to understand the allocation of fire costs between the various districts," Murphy said. "There's some numbers that just look a little out of line, and we just want to make sure they're right."

The sudden delay came after city officials unveiled a proposed 1.99 percent property tax increase for the 2010-11 fiscal year. The tax hike would translate into an average mill rate of 17.04 for the fiscal year starting July, a 1.85 percent increase from this year's 16.73 mill rate.

Under the proposed increase, tax on the average Stamford home assessed at $537,338 would be $9,156, or an increase of $166 over the current year. Tax on the average residential condominium, assessed at $254,409, would be $4,335, or an increase of $79.

Despite the Board of Representatives' urging, the Finance Board did not set aside money for the Ferguson Library system in the contingency fund, a reserve for unexpected expenses. Members of the library board have warned that without an additional $1.2 million in funding, the library will be forced to close branches and drastically reduce hours.

Tarzia said the city is committed to finding at least $300,000 in funding for the library to follow through on last week's proposal from former Board of Education PresidentRichard Freedman for a public-private partnership to support the library, if the library board signs on to the plan.

Ultimately, the Finance Board set the contingency at $3.75 million, with $1 million reserved for public safety overtime, $1.35 million for employee termination costs related to the city's planned 50 layoffs, $800,000 for unanticipated snow and weather events, and the rest for primary elections, Smith House, and other miscellaneous unanticipated expenses.

Board Democrat Tim Abbazia attempted to double the amount set aside in the contingency reserve to $7.5 million, including $1.2 million for city libraries, as well as $100,000 for the Project Music program, which had funding eliminated in the mayor's budget, and other city programs, but his motion was quashed 4-2, with Murphy joining the board's three Republicans to defeat the proposal.

Other motions by Abbazia to increase the contingency by smaller amounts also failed.

"I do want to emphasize that there are a lot of unforeseen things that may happen," Abbazia said. "As a responsible member of the board, while I think we want to be fair to the taxpayers, we also have to cover the expenses for the services in the city."

City Director of Administration Fred Flynn said the city had a tough job creating the proposals but is prepared for the consequences.

"This is the administration's budget. We thought about it long and hard, and we're prepared to be accountable to it," Flynn said.

Earlier this month, the Board of Representatives approved an overall $449.5 million city budget for next fiscal year, which includes layoffs of about 50 city employees. The plan included $1.5 million in cuts made by the Board of Finance to the mayor's budget, which slashed funding to city departments by 10 percent.

Staff writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at magdalene.perez@scni.com or 203-964-2240.